For homes on the Dunes, sand runs through hourglass

Deadline nears for park to claim private property, leaving some elderly residents with nowhere to go

February 20, 2010|By Mary Owen, Special to the Tribune

The home of George and Ann Bagnall sits atop a dune overlooking Lake Michigan and is bordered by thick woods filled with wildlife. The modest bungalow was a perfect summer retreat that became their full-time home in 1972, when they moved from Chicago's South Side.

They bought their property in Beverly Shores, Ind., in 1958, and after it was included within the boundaries of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in themid-1960s, they were proud to be ambassadors for the park.

But soon the couple will be forced to leave. Federal legislation that expanded the lakeshore national park more than 40 years ago stipulated that all residents must move out by Sept. 30, 2010. Frustrated and sad, the Bagnalls, both 81, are unsure where they will go.

"One thing we agreed is that we're going to enjoy every damn minute that we have left here," George Bagnall said.

Over the years, more than 300 people have been forced to leave their homes after their property was folded into the national park. The Bagnalls are part of the last group of almost 30 residents who must vacate by the September deadline.

That group includes several people in their 80s who were pioneers of preserving the natural beauty of Northwest Indiana at a time when steel mills were on track to turn most of the state's Lake Michigan shoreline into an industrial area.

Many of the residents thought they wouldn't live to see the 2010 deadline. Others are hoping for an unlikely last-minute extension. Everyone wishes to stay longer.

"I don't know what to do," said Doye Grimm, 85. "This is a lot of stress for an old person. It's causing me a lot of worry. … I have nowhere to go and no money."

In 1948, Grimm and her husband paid $300 for their wooded property down the street from the lake and borrowed $8,000 to build a house. They didn't think they would stay in the neighborhood near Portage very long, but 62 years later Grimm, whose husband died in 1984, is still there.

"My house is right on the edge," said Grimm, a retired Porter County schools secretary. "It's not occupying much of the park. It won't make a difference. I don't expect to live a lot longer, and I'd like to live here as long as I can."

When the residents leave, the park will demolish most of the homes, and the land will be returned to nature in the form of oak prairies, dune grass and wetland. Park officials say they have no legal authority to extend the deadline for the homeowners.

"The local community is making a huge sacrifice for a national treasure," said Lynda Lancaster, spokeswoman for the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

Residents did not have a choice about giving up their property, but the process was intended to ease the transition. People could sell their homes to the park and receive fair market value. If they wanted to stay after the sale, they could negotiate a lease based on the value of the home. Some people paid as little as $300 a month for property a block from the lake.

Today, the park consists of 15,000 acres that stretch 25 miles along Lake Michigan from Portage to Michigan City and has one of the country's most diverse plant collections. The park is a hodgepodge of land acquired over the years from private owners and has two steel mills and the industrial Port of Indiana wedged in.

For decades, the community protested industry that destroyed the dunes. But the rancor was largely dismissed by Indiana politicians who envisioned a commercial port along the lake. In the 1960s, the locals found allies in U.S. Sen. Paul Douglas, a Chicago Democrat, and newly elected President John F. Kennedy. They pushed for the legislation that was eventually passed in 1966, creating the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.

By most accounts, it was a compromise between nature preservation and industry. But John Laue, 63, who must surrender his childhood home in September, disagrees.

"It wasn't a compromise; industry got everything they wanted, and the park was created with what was left over," said Laue, who is writing a book about the people losing their homescalled "Lost Dunes …Lost Homes."

This summer, Laue will return for the last time to the childhood home he now leases, to clean it out. He fondly remembers running over the dunes with friends, having a yard full of wildflowers and playing football on the beach. The ashes of his late parents were spread on the property.

"The idea of a bulldozer coming in and tearing all that up is not a pleasant thought," said Laue, who now lives in California. "You get emotionally attached to a home. All my childhood memories are there."

Gene Ayers, who has sold real estate in northwest Indiana for 40 years, hopes many of the displaced residents will stay in the community — a difficult task in an area where large million-dollar lakeside homes often replaced 50-year-old cottages.

"I think it's a shame to lose those people," Ayers said.

But Ayers said that although the area has lost housing stock, the national park is an important asset.